“The Irish are Coming!” is the call you hear these days from Carla Maitland, Public Relations Director and newly elected 2014 Vice President of the Tennessee Genealogical Society. The Ulster Historical Foundation is a ”non-profit organization founded in 1956 to promote interest in Irish genealogy and history, with particular reference to the historical nine county province of Ulster. The Foundation is one of the leading genealogical research agencies in Ireland and a major publisher of historical, educational and genealogical source books. It has also devised a series of ground breaking online historical and genealogical resources, which have helped to transform the availability of Irish records for family historians at home and abroad.”

The Tennessee Genealogical Society is excited to have the Ulster Historical Foundation come to do an all day Seminar featuring Fintan Mullan, Executive Director and Gillian Hunt, Genealogist, that will be FREE. More information on this seminar as well as a downloadable registration form can be found at www.tngs.org. Registration is on a first come, first serve basis, so reserve your seat soon! The date is Saturday, March 15, 2014!

Sack lunches will be provided for $7.50, so be sure to place your order now. Drinks and desserts will be provided. 

Here are the informative topics that will be covered:

• Introduction to Irish and Scots-Irish Family History Research
• Researching the Farming Community in the 18th and 19th Centuries
• The Ulster Plantation: Sources for 17th Century Families   
• Records Relating to the Different Churches in Ireland
• Emigration from the North of Ireland to North America in the Eighteenth Century (the Story of the Scots-Irish)
• Solving Your ‘Brick-Walls’- Practical Internet Tutorial and Resolving Research Queries

A review of their website can be found at  http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art182056.asp . 

For more information, please contact Carla Maitland via email at carlamaitland@yahoo.com or the Tennessee Genealogical Society at 901.754.4300. Hope to see you there! Make your Reservations today!

The Jonesborough Genealogical Society of Tennessee could use your help. If you are able to help them in this great project, see contact information below. Thanks!

On Saturday, October 19, 2013, the Tennessee Genealogical Society held its final Quarterly Business meeting of the year. At the beginning of the meeting, ballots were distributed for the election of the new Board of Directors. After the business meeting, followed by an outstanding presentation on researching court records by Tina Sansone, the ballots had been counted and the winners were announced.  A Book Fair was held after the Business Meeting.

The following people were elected to take office beginning January 1, 2014, for a two-year period (2014 – 2015):

PRESIDENT                                       Joe Burns

VICE PRESIDENT                             Carla Love Maitland

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY                 Sharron Bearly

EDITOR                                              Janice Ingram

BUSINESS MANAGER                    Charles Speed

TREASURER                                      Cindy Rodgers

RECORDING SECRETARY              Kathy Stafford

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY   Jean Belser

DIRECTOR OF SALES                      Byron Crain

DIRECTOR at LARGE                      Jim Bobo

Congratulations to all of the new Board of Directors for the Tennessee Genealogical Society. These officers have the honor of beginning their term as the Society celebrates its 60th Anniversary Year in 2014.

Submitted by Carla Love Maitland

Tour/Research Field Trip: Ned R. McWherter Library, University of Memphis
Wednesday, September 04 ~ 10:00 am to 12:00 n ~ Ned R. McWherter Library, Room 404, (901) 678-2210 (Preservation and Special Collections Department)
The Ned R. McWherter Library is located west of Zach Curlin Drive and south of Norriswood Avenue. See Campus Map for additional details. If interested in carpooling to the library, 1) please contact Tina Sansone, 901-413-7995, or Carla Maitland, 901-483-3151, and 2) meet at 9:00 am in the parking lot behind the Germantown Regional History and Genealogy Center.

FamilySearch
Thursday, September 12 ~ 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room  
How to use FamilySearch for research, and how to order microfilm for library use. 

Wanted ~ Dead or Alive
Saturday, September 21 ~ 10:30 am to 12:30 pm ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room  
Guest speaker Therese Fisher: "Genealogy typically is the progression back in time as we struggle to uncover the clues that give us the parents of the known generation. But many of us have had occasion to bring the lines forward . . . to learn about living descendants of our ancestors. It could be a reunion or learning who now holds the family bible. How we approach both types of research is different enough to present problems if we don't have the correct tools. This lecture will provide tools that I have learned over the past 15 years performing forensic genealogy." Visit Fisher Associates for additional information.

Let's Discuss It (Genealogy/computer discussion group led by Debbie Atchley)
Saturday, September 28 ~ 10:00 am to 12:00n ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room 
Bring up your topic of interest and/or soak up the knowledge from the round table. The last 30 minutes will be led by P.Z. Horton who will answer questions about Family Tree Maker software. If time allows, P.Z. will demonstrate some advanced features in Family Tree Maker. No registration is required for this program. "Let's Discuss It" handouts available for download.

Unless otherwise noted, all classes and programs are: 1) free and open to the public, and 2) held in the Tennessee Genealogical Society lecture room in the Germantown Regional History and Genealogy Center, 7779 Poplar Pike, Germantown, TN 38138. For details call 901-413-7995 or email Tina Sansone: tinahsansone@gmail.com
                                                                                                                                    

Researching your Native Roots
Jason R. Terrell ~ Saturday, August 10 ~ 10:30 am ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room* 

Many families have stories of Native American ancestors scattered throughout their family tree. But how does one go about proving those ancestors were really Native American and what can we learn about their lives and times?

This is the subject of the upcoming presentation by Jason R. Terrell at the Tennessee Genealogical Society meeting on Saturday, August 10 at 10:30 a.m.

A journalist, graphic artist and teacher, Terrell is also an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and Vice Chairman of the Editorial Board for the tribe’s newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. He has been researching his Cherokee ancestors and studying Cherokee history and culture for over 20 years.

“Native Americans are some of the best documented groups in the United States,” Terrell says. “When doing Native American research, it’s important to answer some fundamental questions about your Native ancestor. Doing so can save you an enormous amount of time by narrowing down the records that might pertain to your family.”

"Because of the differences in tribal cultures and family and clan structures across the country, knowing more about the specific tribe you are researching can also give you clues as to what records are available," he advises.

Terrell’s presentation will cover the basic questions you need to answer, an overview of the most valuable sources as well as the online databases available for research on various tribes, focusing most directly on tribes that originally resided in the southeast. 

* Unless otherwise noted, all classes and programs are: 1) free and open to the public, and 2) held in the Tennessee Genealogical Society lecture room in the Germantown Regional History and Genealogy Center, 7779 Poplar Pike, Germantown, TN 38138. For details call 901-413-7995 or email Tina Sansone: tinahsansone@gmail.com
                                                                                                                           

July 2013 Events

Mark your calendar and participate in these learning experiences with other family researchers. Unless otherwise noted, all classes and programs are: 1) free and open to the public, and 2) held in the Tennessee Genealogical Society lecture room in the Germantown Regional History and Genealogy Center, 7779 Poplar Pike, Germantown, TN 38138. For details call 901-413-7995 or email Tina Sansone: tinahsansone@gmail.com

Genealogy Databases  
Thursday, July 11 ~ 1:00pm ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room 
We will review databases and online websites. We occasionally will do some online lookups for those in attendance. 

Navigating the Stacks  
Thursday, July 18 ~ 7:00pm ~ Germantown Regional History and Genealogy Center 
The Library staff will demonstrate how easy it is to find materials with the new shelving arrangement. Come and see the new acquisitions.

Quarterly Business Meeting / Germantown Museum
Saturday, July 20 ~ 10:30am to 12:00n ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room
Members and non-members are invited to attend the Quarterly Business Meeting. After the brief meeting, there will be a presentation by speakers from the Germantown Museum: Mr. Charles Salvaggio, former Mayor of Germantown, and Mr. Sid Witherington, Germantown High School history teacher and coach, who is also a Civil War historian and collector. Refreshments provided. 

August 2013 Events

Genealogy Databases  
Thursday, August 08 ~ 1:00pm ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room 
We will review databases and online websites. We occasionally will do some online lookups for those in attendance. 

Researching your Native Roots / Jason R. Terrell
Saturday, August 10 ~ 10:30am to 12:00n ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room 
Jason R. Terrell will share tips for Native American research. A journalist, graphic artist and teacher, Terrell is also an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and Vice Chairman of the Editorial Board for the tribe’s newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. He has been researching his Cherokee ancestors and studying Cherokee history and culture for over 20 years.
                                                                                                                           

Was My Great Grand Pappy Really a Civil War Soldier?   
                                                                                                 Carla Love Maitland 
As a native Memphian and a former history teacher, I’ve learned so much about the city of my birth over the years and at one time even developed and taught special interest courses about Memphis to middle school students. Nevertheless, I constantly learn new and amazing things about the city’s history. Since the beginning of the commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War in 2011, I’ve acquired even more knowledge about Memphis and the surrounding area. The involvement and significance of this area during the Civil War is so much more than most people realize.

I do know that my understanding increased tremendously after the presentation given to the Tennessee Genealogical Society by Dr. Lee Eugene Wilson on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Dr. Wilson, a dentist by profession, is a Civil War enthusiast and author of two published books* relating an ancestor’s story of love, war, and survival in the turbulent years in the Western Theatre of Operations in the Civil War. The stories are based on facts and documents passed along through his family. He has a third book in the series due to come out in July. The name of his presentation was "Genealogy and the Civil War - or Was my Great Grand Pappy Really in the Civil War and How do I Find Out?" 

Lee, as he asked us to call him, explained that he caught the “history bug” due to those many family stories told over the years. He is a native Mississippian, born in the small town of Duck Hill, who has lived in the Memphis area for around thirty years. The knowledge he’s gained of the history of this region is extraordinary. Lee described the numerous Union encampments that were established after the fall of Memphis to Union forces on June 6, 1862. He described the importance of these areas as well as the Confederate bases and forays into those Union forts, resulting in frequent battles in this area.  He used a series of modern-day photos to help the audience put into perspective exactly where those camps, forts and engagements took place, as well as other places of historical significance.

As Lee said, most people who live in this area don’t realize how much activity actually happened during the 1860s around Memphis, Germantown and Collierville. In truth, most of us in attendance didn’t. He also brought with him a sampling of some of the sabers, swords, bayonets and rifles used during the Civil War. Even more interesting was his own family’s Bible and other memorabilia that were on display for people to look at and examine.
  
Lee’s presentation began with a chart showing what an incredible toll the Civil War took as far as the loss of population in the United States. Although around 650,000 casualties are the current numbers generally given, historians are increasing those numbers based on census records that continue to show the actual ‘missing generations’ of men after the 1860 census. 

Another part of Lee’s presentation had to do with the many websites, books, and other resources that he used to research his own family and that are available for anyone to use in order to find out if their own ancestor or ancestors participated in the Northern or Southern forces during that time period. He went into detail regarding a few of them, describing how to use them for the best research results.                                             

Lee told so many engaging stories that people were truly disappointed when his presentation ended. The time went by way too quickly. It is a certainty that Dr. Lee Wilson will be asked back soon to delight us with even more of his vast knowledge of this time period.  After all, the Sesquicentennial won’t end until 2015!

*Once a Southern Soldier: A Novel of the Civil War; Copyright @2011 by Dr. Lee E. Wilson.

Always a Southern Soldier (The second book in the series Once a Southern Soldier); Copyright @2012 by Dr. Lee E. Wilson. 

Forever a Southern Soldier (The third book in the series Once a Southern Soldier); July 2013 release by Dr. Lee E. Wilson. 
                                                                                       Photos by Jim Bobo
                                                                                                                                                                   

Unless otherwise noted, all classes and programs are: 1) free and open to the public, and 2) held in the Tennessee Genealogical Society lecture room in the Germantown Regional History and Genealogy Center, 7779 Poplar Pike, Germantown, TN 38138. For details call 901-413-7995 or email Tina Sansone: tinahsansone@gmail.com

Genealogy and the Civil War or . . . was my Great Grand Pappy Really in the War, or Not?
Dr. Lee Eugene Wilson ~ Saturday, June 22 ~ 10:30 am ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room 

Dr. Lee Wilson will be the guest lecturer for the Tennessee Genealogical Society on Saturday, June 22 at 10:30 a.m. He will speak on the subject "Genealogy and the Civil War or . . . was my Great Grand Pappy Really in the War, or Not?" Wilson will look back at the Civil War and its effect on the United States as we know it today and also on the difficulties it creates for genealogists as they try to trace their families during this turbulent time in our history.

Wilson has just completed his third novel based on his family and their struggles during the Civil War years. He will explain how his genealogy research led him to write his series of novels Once a Southern Soldier, which chronicles his great grandfather, Bill Ayer, as a young newlywed going off to war and coming to grips with its horrors at bloody Shiloh. The story follows Ayer through the war and to his surrender at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 16, 1865. The books also show the reader the desperate plight the soldier's families faced on the home front.

Wilson says, "One of the first questions I have asked of me is 'How do I find out if my relative was even in the Civil War and then, what unit was he in?'" Wilson will explain his methods for researching his ancestors in the war by using the Internet, various military search sites, era newspapers, and the library. He will also discuss the many reasons that the Civil War was fought in the first place and the political climate that led to hostilities. His collection of Civil War weapons will be on display, and Wilson will explain why there was such a high rate of casualties in the war. He will also explain why some families 'just evaporated' between the 1860 and 1870 census.

"I hope that I can help people in their efforts to find out more of what our ancestors faced in one of our country's most difficult times. And you just might find proof that 'Yes, my Great Grand Pappy was indeed in the Civil War!' --Lee Wilson

Let's Discuss It (genealogy/computer discussion group)
Saturday, June 29 ~ 10:00 am to 12:00 n ~ TnGenSoc Lecture Room 
Participate in a genealogy/computer discussion group led by Debbie Atchley. Bring up your topic of interest and/or soak up the knowledge from the round table. No registration is required for this program. "Let's Discuss It" handouts available for download.
                                                                                                                                                             

Carla Love Maitland

Do you know all the ‘tricks of the trade’ for using Google to research your family’s history? You may think you do, but even ‘seasoned’ researchers learned new ways to use that venerable search engine during the Tennessee Genealogical Society’s day-long seminar with Lisa Louise Cooke, which was held on Saturday, May 4, 2013, at the Pickering Center in Germantown, TN.

Ms. Cooke, who is the owner of Genealogy Gems and the host and producer of the Genealogy Gems Podcast, spent the day with TNGS members and visitors regaling the seminar attendees with truly exceptional tips, research strategies and overall exceptional advice designed to improve the family history research process for each person who was there. Ms. Cooke’s presentation was part of the Tennessee Genealogical Society’s annual ‘Spring Conference’ and was most certainly a delightful and entertaining day.

Ms. Cooke (who asked to be called Lisa) is a true professional, as one can clearly see by visiting her website.  She is filled with knowledge and knows how to share that knowledge with others in a seemingly easy manner. Her presentation was filled with wit and charm and flowed so smoothly that everyone appeared shocked (and frankly dismayed) when each of her sessions came to an end.

The audience soaked in each word. The first session was filled with numerous ways to use Google for searching common surnames (such as Smith or Jones), and even more importantly, how to narrow down the search for those surnames that can also be used for other words in our language, such as Brown or Green.

During the second session the attendees took an amazing voyage on Google Earth as Lisa explained how to use that free tool to trace their family’s voyages and settlements in America. By searching vintage maps and overlaying them on today’s addresses, one can actually visualize (and often truly see) where ancestors lived. She shared tips on how to insert family photos and research notes, allowing anyone to create their family’s personal story that can even be shared with others.

After lunch, everyone returned with eagerness to learn how to research and actually find those illusive newspaper articles and even ads that were written about or included the names of our family members even as far back as the early 1800s. Lisa shared ‘three cool tools’ to use in finding those newspapers, the best websites to search, and her five top tips for newspaper research. In the final session, the conference attendees learned how to become true detectives. Lisa shared guidelines that real detectives use to track down living persons. The revelations were truly awesome!

During each break and even throughout lunch, Lisa’s own books, video CDs, membership deals, and other offerings were literally snatched up by seminar members who wanted to make sure they could revisit and reinforce what had been taught during the day, and of course, learn even more.

Was your appetite whetted by reading this blog post?  Would you like to know more about these topics? I urge you to visit Genealogy Gems and become familiar with Lisa and her podcasts, video CDs, YouTube productions, and numerous publications, which include the Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, Google Earth for Genealogy – Volumes 1 and 2, How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers, and Genealogy Gems: Ultimate Research Strategies. Some of the items on her website are free (the very useful genealogy research toolbar for one), but to get the absolute best of the best, consider a Genealogy Gems Premium Membership.

At the end of the day, everyone agreed on these things:
1.       The Tennessee Genealogical Society definitely wants Lisa Louise Cooke to return for another seminar very soon!
2.       Lisa is as pretty as her picture – and just as pretty inside as out!
3.       Lisa Louise Cooke is a true professional who loves her work and truly enjoys sharing her knowledge with others!

Can you tell the seminar was a great success?